Unit 14 Review – WWII

Remember to study all of your VOCAB!

  1. Was FDR’s "Good Neighbor" policy a radical departure from past Latin American policies? What future problems did it pose for the United States in the region?
  2. To what extent did Roosevelt change the U. S. approach to international debt and currency issues?
  3. In what ways did U. S. relations with the U. S. S. R. change in the early 1930s?
  4. Why were Americans supporting a neutral position in the 1930s regarding the growing political and military tensions in Europe?
  5. Briefly describe the restrictions that Congress place on US contacts with foreign nations in the Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937?
  6. Why had the Japanese government become hostile to and suspicious of the United States by the early 1930s?
  7. Why did the Japanese invade Manchuria in 1931? What was the US’s response to this attack? The world’s?
  8. How did Roosevelt manage to get aid to Great Britain in 1939 and 1940 despite the limitations imposed by the Neutrality Acts? What changes in American public opinion coincided with the worsening situation for France and Britain?
  9. Describe the progression from the Neutrality Acts to Cash and Carry and the Destroyer Deals to Lend Lease. Include both the American government’s and people’s changing opinions.
  10. How did the Lend-Lease program work? What was the basis of the national debate over this Act?
  11. What was the shape of our military readiness at the outbreak of war in Europe in the fall of 1939? What did President Roosevelt and Congress do to enhance our potential military capabilities?
  12. Why was the Atlantic Charter important? What principles did it establish?
  13. How did the US enter into an undeclared shooting war with Germany in the fall of 1941?
  14. Why was oil a major source of conflict between the US and Japan in the early 1940s? What other areas of disagreement existed between the two nations in the fall of 1941?
  15. Why were we caught so off guard at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941?
  16. What problems did the Japanese attack solve for FDR?
  17. Why could the attack on Pearl Harbor be considered a tactical victory but a political blunder by the Japanese? How have historians treated this issue?
  18. What region of the country benefited most from the enormous government spending for the war effort? Why?
  19. What impact did the war have on organized labor?
  20. What efforts did the national government make to regulate production, labor, and prices during the war? How successful were they?
  21. Describe Total War and how WWII embodied Total War. What was the importance of those on the Homefront during the war?
  22. What was a "zoot suit?" How did this apparel represent racial tensions in Los Angeles during World War II?
  23. How were the women who filled war jobs on the Homefront treated? What obstacles did they face?
  24. What long-term consequences for the role of women in society and the work force were foreshadowed by the wartime experience?
  25. Describe popular culture on the home front. What efforts were made to make life less disruptive for the service members themselves?
  26. How did World War II challenge traditional Indian life and redirect federal Indian policy?
  27. Describe the demographic and social changes for African Americans and Mexican Americans during World War II.
  28. Explain the justification for and the circumstances surrounding the internment by the US government of Japanese Americans during World War II.
  29. Why did Japanese Americans suffer more than German Americans? How did their treatment contrast with Chinese Americans?
  30. What was the key issue in the case of Korematsu v. US? How did the Supreme Court rule?
  31. Describe the differences between the 3 fronts in WWII. (Western, Eastern, Pacific)
  32. How did scientific and technological advances help the Allies win the war? What were the peacetime implications of these developments?
  33. Why did the US fight a war for democracy with a segregated military?How did African-Americans, Japanese Americans, Native Americans, and other minorities distinguish themselves during World War II?Describe the Double V philosophy.
  34. Describe the roles women filled in the military during WWII.
  35. What was the historical and military significance of D-Day, June 6, 1944?
  36. Describe the nature of Allied bombing raids over Germany and Japan between 1944 and 1945.
  37. Describe the occurrences during WWII when Hitler could have won but didn’t. What caused these?
  38. Why were the Allies finally able to win the war in Europe?
  39. What was the world’s response when they learned about the Holocaust? Why didn’t the American military try to stop it before the end of the world even though the US government knew about it?
  40. Identify the candidates, the issues, and the outcome of the 1944 presidential election. Why did FDR change running mates?
  41. What strategy did the US use in fighting the Japanese in the Pacific?
  42. Describe the meetings and conferences between the leaders of the Allies and how they would affect the war. Why would they be important after the war?
  43. What role did US colleges and universities play in the war effort? How was the "Manhattan Project" an example of this symbiotic relationship between the military and academic worlds?
  44. When the first atomic test bomb was exploded on July 11, 1945 near Almogordo, NM, Dr. Robert J. Oppenheimer remarked: I am become Death--Destroyer of worlds. What did he mean by this comment?
  45. What were the pros and cons concerning the dropping of atomic bombs on Japanese cities in August, 1945?
  46. The principal biographers of President Truman and many other historians contend that the President's decision to use the atomic bomb was based purely on the motivation to end the war quickly and save lives. Why do some historians dispute that view?

Unit 14 – WWIIPage 1Due Friday March 22, 2013